Deputy Defence Minister Majer meets Italian Ambassador Flumiani for talks on strengthening SVK-ITA defence cooperation

Today (7 April 2022), Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer received Ambassador of the Italian Republic to Slovakia, Her Excellency Ms Catherine Flumiani at the Ministry of Defence in Bratislava, for talks on the current security situation in Ukraine and ways to deepen SVK-ITA bilateral defence cooperation. Both partners agreed on the extraordinary unity and solidarity of EU and NATO Member States towards Ukraine and on combating Russia's hybrid activity within Europe. They also discussed the Deputy Defence Minister's upcoming visit to Italy in May 2022.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Defence Minister Marian Majer said: “Slovak and Italian soldiers have served with NATOʼs Canadian-led enhanced Forward Presence Battlegroup in Latvia. The aim of the deployment is to demonstrate our unity and strength. We consider the eFP concept to be of great relevance to the Allianceʼs defence and deterrence.”

In response to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, NATO's eFP battlegroup in Slovakia is being stood up with NATO's eFP BGs in Poland and the Baltics serving as a model, he reminded, noting that the stand-up of NATO's eFP BG SVK will bolster the Alliance's posture on the eastern flank, while at the same time backfilling some of the gaps in our defence capabilities.

The two sides complimented the Slovak and Italian contributions to the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), as both countries are on several joint collaborative projects in support of capabilities development.

Furthermore, Deputy Minister Majer provided a status update to Ambassador Flumiani on the SVK Government's defence priorities, including on Armed Forces modernisation.

Mr Majer also touched on SVK-ITA collaboration in the field education, armaments and defence industry, which Slovakia wants to follow up on in the future.

The Slovak side proposed restoring consultations on closer cooperation between the Slovak and Italian MODs in an attempt to take the SVK-ITA defence relationship to a higher level, as well as exploring the possibilities for setting up the Office of Slovak Defence Attaché in Italy.